OOPS General Meeting May 29, 2013: Yoga for Kayakers

Ever wonder how old dudes such as Christopher Crowhurst, Dubside and Cheri Perry maintain their amazing stretchiness despite fast approaching senescence?   I don’t know about you, but I have found the relentless passage  of time has made it a bit harder to both stay in shape as well as to preserve the dexterity and limberness of my youth.   The answer for these folks and many others has been yoga for kayakers.

Come to our May OOPS event to meet Elaine Cohn, kayaker and yoga instructor who promises us an evening of learning yoga for kayakers.  Elaine promises she’ll give us the opportunity to get out of our chairs and onto the floor to learn some simple and useful poses. If folks are interested, we’ll schedule a kayak + yoga OOPS trip for later in the summer.

Here’s Elaine,  “No, this isn’t about getting into twisted poses and being turned upside down when you are paddling. It’s about doing gentle stretches and poses so that your kayaking muscles don’t feel so stiff or sore after a day out on the water.    . . .

Yoga for kayaking can help – it stretches the muscles we use and strengthens the muscles we don’t use as we paddle.  It keeps us flexible and maintains range of motion in our hips which can lead to back pain and even back injury.  Furthermore, it can help with balance, endurance, kayak fatigue and allow you to get in and out of the boat more easily (and gracefully!)”

Elaine Cohn holds an M.S. in Human Movement from Boston University, an M.Ed. from Portland State University and is a Nationally Certified Counselor with additional certification in Eco-Art Therapy.  She has been a Certified Kripalu Yoga Instructor since 1997.

With over 20 years of experience in the field of education, Elaine’s passion is to help people live full, healthy and balanced lives as well as respect and value themselves, one another and the world we live in.  As a wellness professional, Elaine co-developed and implemented the first U.S. Coast Guard Work-Life Wellness Program as well as created and taught health and wellness classes at Boston University, Portland State University, University of Oklahoma’s Health Promotion Department for Native Americans, PacifiCare Wellness Co. and the Internal Revenue Service.  As Ombudsman and Associate Director of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity at Portland State University, Elaine worked with diverse groups of individuals with a broad array of cultural perspectives, interests and abilities.

The meeting will be held Wednesday May 29th, 6PM  at our usual venue Lucky Lab Brew Pub 675 SW Capitol Hwy, Portland, OR 97219

(503) 244-2537